Who We Are

Meditation retreats at Karmê Chöling focus on mindfulness-awareness practices. Through them we connect our innate goodness and natural intelligence to our engagement in the world. We offer leadership retreats, programs for families and teens, contemplative studies and disciplines, mind-body wellness training, in-depth Buddhist programs, and organic garden apprenticeships.

Our culture has emerged from over 45 years of contemplative practice on this exceptional land, blessed by many great teachers of the Kagyu, Nyingma, and Zen Buddhist traditions. Our traditions are rooted in the principle that every human being has fundamental goodness, warmth, and wakefulness. Joining the practicalities of daily life with the heart of meditation, immersed in the natural elements—sky, wind, water, earth—we are continually enriched by the world around us.

Our community—visitors, staff, volunteers and members—is united by a shared commitment to creating a compassionate, sustainable, and just human society. Join us for a retreat. Drop by for a day visit. Connect with a community dedicated to creating enlightened society—one breath at a time.

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, our founder, was a pioneer in bringing Buddhism to the West. Having fled Tibet in 1958, he settled in North America and became well-known for presenting the essence of the Kagyü and Nyingma lineages in secular terms. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche had the profound conviction that the teachings he held could be transmitted to students in other cultures and that they, in turn, could be empowered to teach and lead others.

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s oldest son and spiritual heir. He is unique in that he bridges two worlds—Asian and Western—having been brought up in both cultures. The Sakyong resides with his family in Nepal.

All our programs are led by teachers that have practiced and studied meditation and other contemplative disciplines for many years and have gone through a thorough curriculum of teacher training and practice. We also host teachers from other respected traditions such as Qigong, Kyudo, Ikebana, etc.

Vegan Aharonian began studying Shambhala Buddhism in 1996. Originally from Armenia (the former Soviet Union), he came to the United States as a graduate student at Columbia University in 1991. Since 2008 he has been involved in the office of Practice and Education at the New York City Shambhala Center and is currently a member of its Governing Council as the head of P&E. In addition to teaching regularly in New York, he has also taught international Shambhala programs in Russia and Ukraine. Vegan holds a PhD in geophysics and has worked as a software engineer for most of his career. His last engagement was at the United Nations. 

JT Buck came to the Buddhist path in 2009. He has served KCL as Director of Programs, Residency Coordinator and Program Coordinator. He originally hails from Ohio, where he maintained an active and varied career in the performing arts and non profit sectors for nearly 20 years. He recently completed pilgrimages to Nepal and to ancient family sites in the UK and Europe and is a first-year interfaith seminarian with One Spirit Learning Alliance.

Suzann Duquette has been a student, leader, and teacher in the Shambhala lineage since 1974. Formerly a co-director of Karmê Chöling, Suzann is currently one of our senior teachers at the center. She was responsible for maintaining and fostering the sacred ceremonial and liturgical forms of Shambhala, including those taught at the Shambhala Ritual Academy.

Currently, Suzann leads programs and retreats at Karmê Chöling. She is a Mudra Space Awareness teacher in the lineage of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and a Qigong instructor in the lineage of Dr. Eva Wong. She has great respect for the ability of embodiment to be able to manifest conceptual learning. Her emphasizes on body awareness and disciplines in all her teaching reflects this understanding. She lives with her husband, Jan, in Barnet, where they own a bed and breakfast, Blue Skies Guesthouse.

Bill Brauer has previously served as Executive Director of Karmê Chöling. He has consulted for large corporations on leadership training, succession planning, and developmental feedback and strategic planning. He has lead Way of Shambhala classes, dathüns, Meditation Instructor Training, and Shambhala Training Levels throughout North America, Eastern Europe and recently Russia.